Privacy Policy

Effective date: October 26, 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Happy Productions LLC ("Happy Productions," "we," "us") collects, uses, shares and protects personal information. It applies when you visit happyproductions.me (the "Site"), fill out one of our forms, apply for one of our video grants, talk with us, receive our emails, calls or text messages, or work with us. It also explains the choices and rights you have.

1. Who we are

Happy Productions LLC is a video production company that makes documentaries and video content for nonprofit organizations.

Happy Productions LLC
260 Main Street, Ansonia, CT 06401
Email: info@happypeople.me
Phone: 475-223-0430

2. What this policy covers

This policy covers personal information we collect through:

the Site, our forms and our grant applications;
our emails, calls, text messages and video meetings;
our advertising and our sales outreach;
our dealings with prospective and current clients.

It does not cover footage, interviews and other content we produce for a client under a production agreement. That content is handled under the agreement with the client and the release forms signed by the people who appear in it. Section 16 explains what to do if you appear in a video we made.

3. Information we collect

Information you give us

Contact details: name, email address, phone number, role or job title, and the city, town or region you are based in.
Organization details: your organization's name, website, location, tax-exempt status, annual budget range, and whether it has marketing or communications staff.
Grant applications: your answers to our application questions, including the story you would like told, why now, what winning would change for your organization, and the name of any organization that referred you.
Communications: messages you send us, notes from calls and meetings, and, with notice, recordings and transcripts of calls and video meetings (see Section 8).
Scheduling details: information you provide when you book a call with us.
Payment and billing details: if you buy our services, your billing contact details and payment records. Payment card details go directly to our payment processor, and we do not store full card numbers.
Your choices: whether you agreed to receive marketing text messages and calls, whether you consented to our use of sensitive information (Section 4), and when and how you gave or withdrew a consent or opt-out.

Information we collect automatically

When you use the Site, we and our partners automatically collect:

Device and usage information: IP address, browser and device type, pages viewed, links clicked, the date and time of your visit, and the page that referred you.
Campaign information: the advertising and campaign details in the link you used to reach the Site, such as which ad you clicked.
Cookies, pixels and similar technologies: see Section 9.

Information from other sources

Business contact data providers and public sources: we may obtain professional contact details about people at nonprofits and other organizations, such as name, title, organization, work email and work phone number. We get these from business data providers, including Apollo.io, and from public websites, and use them to reach out about our services.
Visitor identification: Apollo.io's website tool may tell us which organization, and sometimes which person, visited our Site (see Section 9).
Advertising and social media platforms: we receive reports about how our ads perform. We may also receive limited information when you interact with our ads or social media pages.
Referrals: another organization may give us your organization's name when it applies for a grant or recommends us.
Our clients and partners: when they introduce you to us.

4. Sensitive information

Some stories shared in grant applications or interviews touch on health, mental health, disability, immigration, faith, sexual orientation or other sensitive subjects.

Please share only what you are comfortable sharing. Don't include names or other details that identify the people your organization serves, especially details about their health, immigration status or other sensitive matters. Describe them in general terms instead.

If you include sensitive information about yourself, we use it only with the consent you give by checking the box for that purpose on our application form. We use it only to review your application, to discuss and produce your project, and to keep records of that work. You can withdraw that consent at any time by emailing info@happypeople.me, and we will stop using that information within 15 days.

We do not sell sensitive information, and we do not use it for targeted advertising.

5. How we use information

We use personal information to:

respond to your inquiries and schedule calls;
review grant applications;
run our grant programs and other promotions according to their official rules, contact applicants and finalists, and announce winners as the official rules allow;
provide, plan and deliver our services, and manage contracts, invoices and payments;
tell you about our grants, services and resources (see Section 7);
run, measure and improve our advertising, and show ads to people who may be interested in our services (see Section 9);
find and contact organizations that may be interested in our services;
understand how the Site is used, and improve the Site, our forms and our services;
keep the Site and our systems secure, and detect and prevent spam, fraud and abuse;
keep records of consents, opt-outs and transactions, and comply with our legal obligations;
enforce our terms and official rules, and protect our rights and the rights of others.

6. Grant programs and promotions

When you apply for a Happy Productions grant, we use your application to judge it under the official rules for that program, and to contact you about the program. We may also use your contact details to tell you about our services, including any discounted offers made to applicants who are not selected. You can opt out of marketing at any time (see Section 7).

We do not publish the contents of your application without your permission. If your organization wins, we may announce its name, region and a short description of its work as the official rules describe.

If you name another organization as your referrer, we record that name to apply the program's referral terms. If another organization names you as its referrer, we may tell you that it did and whether the referral led to a grant.

7. Emails, phone calls and text messages

Email. We send emails about your inquiry or application and, unless you opt out, emails about our grants, services and resources. Every marketing email tells you how to unsubscribe, by a link or by replying. We honor unsubscribe requests within 10 business days across all the tools we use to send email.

Text messages and automated calls. We send marketing text messages, and make marketing calls using automated technology or a prerecorded or artificial voice, only to people who have given us their prior express written consent, for example by checking the optional opt-in box on one of our forms.

Consent is never a condition of applying for a grant, winning, or buying anything.
Message frequency varies. Message and data rates may apply.
Reply HELP for help.
To opt out, reply STOP (or QUIT, END, CANCEL, UNSUBSCRIBE, REVOKE or OPT OUT) to any text. This stops our marketing texts and automated marketing calls.
We will send one text confirming your opt-out, with no marketing in it, and then no further texts unless you opt in again.
You can also opt out in any other reasonable way, such as telling us on a call or emailing info@happypeople.me.
Opt-outs by text take effect right away. Opt-outs made in other ways take effect as soon as we can, and no later than 10 business days.
Mobile carriers are not liable for delayed or undelivered messages.

Calls from our team. People on our team may call people at nonprofits and other organizations, including grant applicants, to talk about our grants and services. If you ask us not to call you, we will add you to our internal do-not-call list and stop within 10 business days.

We may still contact you about an application you submitted, a call you booked, or work we are doing for you.

8. Calls and video meetings

We may record and transcribe calls and video meetings with you, so our team can follow up accurately and keep notes. When we record, we tell you at the start of the call or meeting, and our meeting software also shows a recording notice. If you do not want to be recorded, tell us at any time and we will stop recording, or not record at all.

9. Cookies, pixels, advertising and visitor identification

The Site uses cookies, pixels and similar technologies from us and from our partners. They include Google Analytics, Google Ads, the Meta (Facebook and Instagram) pixel, Hyros (an ad-attribution service that helps us see which ads lead to calls and sales), and Apollo.io's website tool. We use them to:

make the Site work and remember your choices;
measure visits and how people use the Site;
measure whether our ads lead to form submissions, such as a grant application;
show our ads to people who visited the Site, or who resemble people interested in our services;
learn which organizations visit the Site, so our team can follow up.

What partners collect. These partners may collect information about your visits, such as:

the pages you view and the actions you take;
identifiers from your browser or device.

They may combine it with information they already have, and use it as described in their own privacy policies. When you fill in or submit a form, Meta may receive a hashed (coded) version of the name, email address, phone number and city or town you enter, and Google may receive a hashed version of the email address you enter, so they can match your visit to an ad. Hashed information can still be linked to you.

Visitor identification. Apollo.io's website tool uses your IP address and similar device information to tell us which organization, and sometimes which person, visited our Site, so our team can follow up.

Targeted advertising and "sales." We use personal information for targeted advertising. Our use of Meta, Google, Hyros and Apollo.io tools may count as a "sale" under some state laws, even though they do not pay us.

Information involved: identifiers, such as IP address, cookie and device IDs, and hashed name, email address and phone number, and internet activity, such as pages viewed and forms submitted.
Who receives it: advertising and business-data companies, namely Meta, Google, Hyros and Apollo.io.
Ad audience lists: we may also upload a hashed list of the email addresses of people who gave us their details to Meta or Google, to show them our ads or to leave them out of our ads. We leave out anyone who has opted out.

Your privacy choices

Global Privacy Control (GPC). We treat a GPC signal from your browser as a request to opt out of targeted advertising and of any sale of your personal information. When the Site detects GPC, it:
- does not load the Meta pixel, Hyros or Apollo.io's visitor-identification tool;
- tells Google not to use your visit for advertising.
If GPC is on when you submit a form, we also mark your record so that we do not add your contact details to advertising audiences.
Opt-out button. Clicking it does the same for this browser. Your choice is stored in a cookie, so you'll need to do it again on another browser or device, or if you clear your cookies.
Opt out for your contact details everywhere. Email info@happypeople.me with the subject "Opt out." We will opt your contact details out of targeted advertising and any sale. We do not require you to verify your identity to opt out.
Platform controls. You can manage ads through your Facebook or Instagram ad preferences and Google's My Ad Center. You can learn more about interest-based ads at optout.aboutads.info.
Cookies. Most browsers let you block or delete cookies. Some parts of the Site may not work properly without them.
Do Not Track. Our Site does not respond to browser "Do Not Track" signals, but it does honor GPC as described above. Third parties such as Meta and Google may collect information about your activity over time and across websites.

10. How we share information

We share personal information only as described in this policy:

Service providers that work for us under contract. They provide website hosting and forms, customer relationship management, email marketing, scheduling, meeting recording and transcription, payment processing, file storage, internal messaging, and AI tools. We require them to use the information only to provide their services to us.
Sales-data provider. We use Apollo.io to find and contact prospective clients. Business contact details in our customer relationship management system may be checked against, and added to, Apollo's business-contact database, which Apollo makes available to its other customers. These details are name, title, organization, work email and work phone. We do not send Apollo the content of grant applications.
Advertising partners, such as Meta, Google and Hyros, as described in Section 9.
Production partners, such as the videographers and editors working on your project, who need the information to do that work.
Professional advisers, such as lawyers, accountants and insurers.
Legal and safety: when we believe in good faith that the law requires it, or to protect the rights, property or safety of Happy Productions, our clients or others.
Business transfers: in connection with a merger, acquisition, financing or sale of all or part of our business. The information would remain subject to this policy's protections.
With your consent, or at your direction.

Text messaging. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. The sharing described elsewhere in this policy does not apply to text-messaging opt-in data or consent.

11. AI tools

We use AI tools from service providers to help our team work efficiently, for example to transcribe calls and footage, summarize applications and notes, and draft messages. The people on our team decide which grant applications are selected and which projects we take on.

We do not collect, use or sell personal information to train large language models. The AI tools we use are set up so that their providers do not train their models on your information.

12. How long we keep information

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy:

Grant applications, including copies in our internal systems: generally up to three years after the grant cycle ends.
Call and meeting recordings and transcripts: up to two years, unless needed for an active project.
Marketing contacts: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete your information. We keep a minimal suppression record so that we don't contact you again.
Client and billing records: as long as required for tax, accounting and contract purposes.
Website analytics data: for the retention period set in our analytics tools, no more than 14 months.
Consent, opt-out and do-not-call records: at least five years, so we can show we honored your choices.

13. How we protect information

We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect personal information, such as access controls and accounts protected with strong authentication. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

14. Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, privacy laws, including the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, may give you rights over your personal information. We extend the following rights to all U.S. residents:

Access: confirm whether we process your personal information, and get a copy of it in a portable format.
Correct: correct inaccurate personal information.
Delete: delete personal information you provided or that we collected about you. Information already added to a third party's own database, such as Apollo's, is subject to that company's own deletion process. We will tell you how to use it.
Opt out: of targeted advertising, of any sale of your personal information, and of profiling used to make decisions that have legal or similarly significant effects.
List of third parties: get a list of the third parties to which we have sold personal information, if any.
Withdraw consent: for example, to marketing texts and automated calls, or to our use of sensitive information.

How to make a request. Email info@happypeople.me or call 475-223-0430.

We may need to verify your identity before acting on an access, correction or deletion request, usually by confirming details we already have. We do not require verification to opt out.
You may use an authorized agent. We may ask for proof of the agent's authority and confirm the request with you.

We respond within 45 days. If we need more time, we will tell you why within those first 45 days, and may take up to 45 more days. We will not discriminate against you for exercising your rights.

Appeals. If we decline your request, you may appeal by replying to our decision, or by emailing info@happypeople.me with the subject "Privacy appeal." We will respond to an appeal within 60 days. If we deny your appeal, you can:

file a complaint with the Connecticut Attorney General online at portal.ct.gov/ag/common/complaint-form-landing-page (more information: The Connecticut Data Privacy Act);
or contact the attorney general of your state.

15. If you are in the United Kingdom or European Economic Area

We are based in the United States. If you are in the UK or the European Economic Area, UK or EU data protection law may apply to our use of your personal information.

Our legal bases:

Legitimate interests: to contact people at organizations about our services and to run our business. We balance these interests against your rights.
Performance of a contract: to provide services you or your organization asked for.
Consent: for text messages and any other uses where we ask for it.
Legal obligation: where the law requires us to process information.

Your rights. You may ask to access, correct, delete, restrict or transfer your personal information. You may also object to our processing, including direct marketing, at any time, and withdraw any consent. Email info@happypeople.me. You may also complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk) or your local EU data protection authority.

International transfers. We, our team members and our service providers process information in the United States and other countries, including from outside the UK and EEA. Where the law requires, we use appropriate safeguards for these transfers, such as standard contractual clauses.

16. People who appear in our videos

If you appear in a video we produced and have a question or concern about it, contact us at info@happypeople.me. Most of the videos we produce are owned or controlled by our nonprofit clients, so we may need to work with the client to respond. We will tell you if we pass your request to the client.

17. Children

The Site and our marketing are intended for adults acting for organizations. They are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect personal information online from children under 13. We do not sell, or use for targeted advertising, the personal information of anyone we know, or have good reason to know, is under 18. If you believe a child has given us personal information through the Site, contact us and we will delete it.

When our productions include minors, we require written permission from a parent or guardian.

18. Other websites and services

The Site links to and embeds services operated by others, such as video players, scheduling tools and social networks. Their privacy practices are governed by their own policies.

19. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We will post the updated policy on this page and change the effective date at the top.

If we make material changes, we will also take reasonable steps to tell you, for example with a notice on the Site or by email. If a change would let us use information we already have in a materially different way, we will tell you first and, where the law requires, ask for your consent.

20. Contact us

Happy Productions LLC
260 Main Street, Ansonia, CT 06401
info@happypeople.me
475-223-0430